Giammalva Properties President Vincent Giammalva said that infrastructure construction on the 84-acre development will begin in December.

“We have three contractors that are going to underground utilities and another doing road paving,” he said.

Giammalva did not name the contractors but said Burtnick Enterprises will be the general contractor for the American Furniture Warehouse store, which will anchor the site.

American Furniture Warehouse and a Centerpoint Energy electrical and gas facility will both begin construction about the second week of December as well, weather permitting, Giammalva said. The infrastructure, furniture store and Centerpoint facilities are tentatively expected to be completed within the next eight months, he said.

All of the 84 acres of the development except for 25 acres has been leased, Giammalva said. The developer is not currently marketing the remaining approximately 25 acres, pending completion of the infrastructure installation. The 25 acres may be leased, sold or used to build lease space on the site, Giammalva said.

“What remains to be seen is what restaurants and other retailers come to serve the community,” he said.

The site was approved in late June of this year by the city of Katy. Mayor Chuck Brawner said at the time that he had worked with the developer and city residents to address resident concerns.

The city provided a $6 million sales tax abatement to American Furniture Warehouse in July, and it expects to receive about $36 million in sales tax revenue over the next 18 years, Brawner said at the time. American Furniture Warehouse is also expected to bring about 350 jobs to the Katy area, Brawner said.

Both city and developer representatives said they wanted to ensure that the development represents Katy well because it is one of the main routes into the city.

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“We’re excited for the community to get started, and we are confident it’s going to be a success, not just in terms of the look of the development but also what it brings to the community,” Giammalva said.